Torpedo (weapon)

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torpedoes were widely employed during the Second World War. MTBs and their equivalents, destroyers, cruisers, and even some battleships, were equipped with torpedo tubes for use in fleet actions; and they were also launched from aircraft, notably at Taranto by the British, at Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, and in the carrier v. carrier naval actions during the Pacific war (see carriers, 2). But a ‘fish’ (‘eel’ in the German Navy) was most deadly when fired, without warning, by a submarine (see Figure for typical torpedo).

A torpedo was, in fact, a miniature submarine in itself; but the depth-keeping and steering mechanisms were fully automatic. Until mid-1940 the depth-keeping of German torpedoes was erratic and there were numerous failures. American submariners, for some 20 months, also suffered from faulty weapons which did not explode and one German naval historian also comments on the lack of reliability of ‘the depth keeping and firing mechanisms’ of Soviet torpedoes used by the Black Sea Fleet ( F. Ruge, The Soviets as Naval Opponents, Cambridge, 1977, p. 101).

Typically, a semi-internal-combustion or turbine-propulsion torpedo was 533 mm. (21 in.) in diameter and 6.1 m. (20 ft.) long. An air bottle, to supply the engine, occupied about one-third of the length. It could take a heavy warhead of 270–393 kg. (595–866 lb.) 3–5 km. 2–3 mi.) at 45 knots or nearly 13 km. (8 mi.) at 30 knots, but the ideal range was about 1,100 m. (1,200 yd.). The longer ranges were academic unless a large number of fish were fired in a spread salvo like the opened fingers of a hand or successively in a ‘hosepipe’ which had the same effect by virtue of target travel. The chances of hitting an evasive target with only one or two torpedoes at more than a mile (l.6 km.) were low, though the Germans improved the odds at long range by using the Federapparat (spring apparatus) torpedo, or FAT, and Lagenunabhängiger (independent of target's inclination) torpedo, or LUT, which crossed and recrossed a convoy's path. Against ‘easy’ merchantmen, however, U-boats usually employed single-shot 30-knot, cheap and simple battery-powered electric ‘eels’ which, unlike ‘thermal’ oil-fuelled (or alcohol for USN turbine-drive) torpedoes, left no revealing wake on the surface. American submarines were similarly equipped from late 1943 and by 1945 were using them in 65% of attacks. The Royal Navy clung to oil-air thermal weapons scarcely changed from a 1928 design except that a magnetic-influence pistol—which was unreliable but could be more damaging because it exploded the 350 kg. (770 lb.) warhead beneath a target's pull—was sometimes used.

Torpedoes: Principal types

Richard Compton-Hall

torpedo in naval warfare, a self-propelled submarine projectile loaded with explosives, used for the destruction of enemy ships. Although there were attempts at subsurface warfare in the 16th and 17th cent., the modern torpedo had its origin in the efforts of David Bushnell, who, during the American Revolution, experimented with a submarine for attaching underwater explosives to British ships. His attempts failed, but later Robert Fulton experimented with similar ideas. In the 19th cent. torpedoes developed at first as stationary mines placed in the water; these were used extensively by the Russians in the Crimean War and by the Confederacy in the U.S. Civil War. The first truly self-propelled torpedo was designed and built at Fiume in 1866 by Robert Whitehead, an Englishman. It was driven by a small reciprocating engine run by compressed air; a hydrostatic valve and pendulum balance, connected to a horizontal rudder, controlled the depth at which it ran. Directional accuracy was achieved in 1885 when John Adams Howell developed the gyroscope to control the vertical rudder. Torpedoes were used by Japan in the Russo-Japanese War and were widely employed in World War I. The torpedoes used in World War II were usually 20 to 24 ft (6.1–7.3 m) long, carrying up to 600 lb (272 kg) of explosives at a speed of 50 knots for more than 10,000 yd (9,144 m). The type of torpedo used in World War II has been largely superseded by the homing torpedo. In contrast to the older type, which traveled in a straight line on a preset course, the homing torpedo automatically changes its course to seek out its target. Most homing torpedoes are activated by sounds coming from the target (e.g., propeller or machinery noises), and they follow the sounds until making contact with the target. A homing torpedo runs through three phases: the enabling run, which takes it to the vicinity of the target; the search pattern, in which it maneuvers to find the target; and the homing, in which it pursues the target. The modern torpedo is generally propelled by an electric motor, but some of the newer, faster, high-diving torpedoes, designed for effectiveness against nuclear submarines, have solid-propellant-driven turbines. Some also may be equipped with nuclear warheads. Torpedoes can be fired from shore stations, surface vessels, and aircraft, as well as from submarines.

Bibliography: See Bureau of Naval Personnel, Principles of Naval Ordnance and Gunnery (1959); R. Fulton, Torpedo War and Submarine Explosions (1810, repr. 1971).

tor·pe·do / tôrˈpēdō/ • n. (pl. -does) 1. a cigar-shaped self-propelled underwater missile designed to be fired from a ship or submarine or dropped into the water from an aircraft and to explode on reaching a target. ∎  a signal placed on a railroad track, exploding as the train passes over it. ∎  a firework exploding on impact with a hard surface. ∎ inf. a submarine sandwich. ∎ inf. a gangster hired to commit a murder or other violent act. ∎  an explosive device lowered into oil wells to clear obstructions. 2. (also tor·pe·do ray) an electric ray. • v. (-does, -doed) [tr.] attack or sink (a ship) with a torpedo or torpedoes. ∎ fig. destroy or ruin (a plan or project): fighting between the militias torpedoed peace talks. DERIVATIVES: tor·pe·do·like / -ˌlīk/ adj.

torpedo Self-propelled underwater missile used by submarines, small surface warships, and aircraft to destroy enemy vessels. Modern torpedoes may be launched by rocket boosters, and often have internal electronic equipment for guiding the missile to the target. See also guided missile

torpedo n. pl. -oes a cigar-shaped self-propelled underwater missile designed to be fired from a ship or submarine or dropped into the water from an aircraft and to explode on reaching a target.
v. -oes, -oed attack or sink (a ship) with a torpedo or torpedoes.
torpedolike adj.